Thursday, 16 July 2009

Yes folks, its another internalisation post today. Don't moan; how are you supposed to be a good guild leader if you don't act like one? Don't worry though, I accept we all have lives to lead, so I'll keep it short as possible.

I accept that many of you will be positive thinkers already. When you start a guild, you realise that you're going to surround yourself with hundreds of strangers every day. Despite the huge potential for things to go wrong, the vast majority of guild leaders have an optimistic attitude, for at least the first few days. This is known as the 'Honeymoon Period'. No matter how many guilds you've been in or lead in the past, starting a new one is always an exciting prospect. Unless you're a boring twat bent on repeating the mistakes of the past, then every new guild will be initially good because it's new. While there's lots of potential for things to effectively fuck up, there's also potential for things to go right. This high energy stems from your own fresh positivism. It's retaining that atmosphere which is the difficult part and failure to do so is what causes problems. Hopefully this article will be helpful in demonstrating some ways of how to avoid issues ever occurring after the Honeymoon Period ends.

See, the album is called'Stay Positive'.

Positive reinforcement.

Promote people who show optimism and make sure your inner circle of officers share your vision to the letter. Rewarding those who dedicate themselves to the guild's future, whether it be with gold, attention or rank, is a great way to form a power base. This way you are insuring that anyone who does speak negatively against you without good reason is pushed aside. I know a few people who are stuck in crap guilds but are afraid to speak out and inform the leadership just how shit their establishment is. Why? Because everyone else has been successfully conditioned into maintaining a ridiculously positive mindset no matter what. They've seen, first hand, that people who disrupt the peace are punished. Remember that your real power over members may deteriorate over time (hey, you need them to fill raid groups!), but they can still be duped into believing you're as strong as ever. This isn't really immoral, but it is definitely down to you presenting a good, congruent image at first. Rewarding those who you like means they'll defend your honour and the guild, even when things are going badly or you're not even around.

Don't make promises you can't keep.

I know it seems an obvious point to make, but really. Consistency is key when trying to make a new set of people trust you, and not following through with what you say is a way to get disliked easily. We all snigger when we see new guilds recruiting people on the premise they'll be getting a bank soon. These types of promises appear trivial at face value, but at least the majority of such guilds fulfil them. Compare this to some of the overly ambitious idiots who claim that their guild will be the best by 2010. Which are you more likely to believe and trust? I've seen folks promise their members stuff which was basically unachievable at the time. Then, as you may expect, their members proceeded to call them out on such bullshit. This leads to a silly 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' scenario where the leader keeps promising more and more stuff in a vain effort that it will somehow buy back the loyalty of their troops. It doesn't work. In these situations, it's best to admit your mistake (either privately or publicly) and move on. A realistic guild leader won' make idiotic goals in the first place. Stop believing that just because you talk big, the guild will become big. It doesn't just work like that.

Don't stop believing.

No, I don't want to take the midnight train to anyywheeere. I do want you all to realise that people are more likely to believe your ideas if you already do. I've come up with some strange ideas in the past, but because my frame of mind was so strong, others went along with it. People can tell whether you're truly passionate about something, or just in it for the loot – even on the Internet. This is not permission to mouth off about how your guild is the greatest ever, and remember that modest, realistic aims will do you a heap of good. Keep your own emotions high, but bare in mind that if you start talking the talk, then walk the walk.

Get it? Journey? 'Don't Stop Believing'? Anyone!?

Think big, but don't go shouting about how good your guild is at first. People tend to be more impressed by your achievements when you're humble about them. Likewise, remember your priorities. What's good about perfecting a flashy website when you could be motivating and recruiting people in-game? What good is a forum and thorough manifesto if there's no one interested in reading them? Perhaps the easiest way to keep a good thing going is simply to do the first things first, and worry about all the details later. Plough on through any rough patches, and keep your chin held high.

In summary:

Positive energy will be the thing that motivates all your members until you start producing results – whether they be in the form of loot, battleground wins or RP events.